Al Tourney has two other outdoor shows: the Delaware Bay Sportfishing Show in the Nur Temple Shrine at Newcastle, Del., Jan. 25 to 27, and a hunting and fishing show at the Pikesville Armory Feb. 15 to 17.

It's time to kick the winter blues and go to the outdoor shows.

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For those concerned that the commercial fishermen would plunder the rockfish stocks, you may relax a little. The commercial hook and line and fyke net season has come and gone. And while the allocation was set at 15,000 pounds, the total harvest was less than 4,000 pounds.

The low harvest is a result of fishermen not using their licenses or returning their commercial licenses to the Department of Natural Resources for a rebate. They felt it was not cost-effective to enter the fishery, especially since Virginia commercial fishermen glutted the market, driving the price of rockfish down to less than $1 a pound.

The commercial gill net season begins next week.

Bob Spore is a Coast Guard-licensed charter boat captain from Pasadena. His Outdoors column appears every Friday and Sunday in The Anne Arundel County Sun.